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Instability on our doorstep? A conference on the Balkans
30/05/2016
Past Events International conference on the changing geo-politics of the Balkans on 7th June in Budapest.
Instability on our doorstep? The changing geo-politics of the Balkans
Winston Churchill remarked that the Balkans displayed a distinct tendency to produce more history than could be consumed locally. But following the collapse of communism and the end to the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, it seemed possible to hope that the Balkans would enjoy a period of stability, and that the countries of the region could make progress in establishing themselves as secure and independent democratic states. All of them expressed the ambition to join NATO and the EU; Croatia, along with Albania joined the former in 2009, Croatia the European Union in 2013; and Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia have been confirmed as candidate EU members. Montenegro is expected to join NATO in the coming months.
The Balkans form a highly sensitive, coherent geo-strategic unity. The need to secure access to the region and to influence events there explains the centuries-old temptation for outside powers to interfere in Balkan affairs.
It is now evident that the new tensions are emerging partly as the result of pressures being applied by external powers. It would appear that the aim of Russian policy is to frustrate the desire of those living in the region to join the West: it challenges the post-Cold War settlement as it attempts to destabilize the region by means of propaganda, dezinformatsia, and support for anti-democratic forces. Large amounts of money have poured in from Saudi Arabia, Persian Gulf states and missionaries of Wahhabi Islam, targeting young populations mired in poverty, unemployment and corruption.
Leading analysts discussed these developments and their implications for Europe and the West at the Danube Institute's conference on Tuesday 7th June 2016. 1
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Programme
09:00 - 09:30 Registration
09.30 - 09.45 Why the Balkans matter: introductory remarks - John O’Sullivan
09:45 -10:05 Intervention, propaganda and manipulation; Russian policy towards the near abroad - Oana Serafim
10:05 - 10:20 Q&A
10:20 - 10:40 The case of Serbia - Boško Jakšic
10:40 - 11:00 Q&A
11:00 - 11:20 Coffee
11:20 - 11:40 The case of Croatia - Gordana Knezevic
11:40 - 12:00 Q&A
12:00 - 12:20 Saudi interests and influences - Miklós Maróth
12:20 - 12:40 Q&A
12:40 - 13:00 Panel discussion
13:00 Lunch
Venue: 27. Benczúr u. (Benczúr Ház), 1068 Budapest
Date: 09:30 – 13:00, Tuesday 7th June 2016
Policy Experts Debate Causes of 2008 Financial Crisis
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The causes, cures and consequences of the 2008 financial crisis was the subject of a major international conference in Budapest on Friday 15th November – the first major event staged by the Danube Institute.
Among those attending the conference at the Károlyi-Csekonics Rezidencia were senior advisers to the Hungarian government, diplomats, academics, and business leaders.
Speakers included the former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Lamont and the former Italian foreign minister and economist Antonio Martino as well as the American economist Peter Wallison, Counsel to the President in the Reagen Administration and co-chairman of the official US inquiry into the causes of the crisis, and Péter Ákos Bod, a former Governor of the Hungarian Central Bank.
The conference, entitled: The Financial Crisis of 2008: Causes, Consequences, Cures, which received extensive media coverage, focused on the social and cultural impact of the crisis, as well as its economic consequences.
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Hungary’s former Central Bank Governor Bod was broadly optimistic about the EU’s economic future and the future of the euro, while Antonio Martino, the former Italian foreign minister and a distinguished monetarist economist argued that the euro was unsustainable in its present form and that the political future of the European Union was deeply uncertain.
Please click here to download the programme of the conference.
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How far governments should go in using modern technology to spy on other states, even upon those which they regard as close Allies, a subject of huge contemporary interest, was the topic of Electronic Eavesdropping and Diplomacy, a lecture by Charles Crawford, a former senior British diplomat at the Danube Institute on Tuesday 5th November. Crawford who was British Ambassador to Poland from 2003-2007 argued that technical advances in surveillance methods enabled governments to establish patterns of human behavior which were a vital tool in combatting international terrorism. It was clear that those governments and politicians which had criticized the US government for spying on the political leaders of friendly states were themselves using such methods. Moreover while counter measures might be devised to frustrate surveillance, it was unlikely that these would be wholly successful, or that governments would cease to use methods that were necessary to protect public safety. /img/1/l1.jpg
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More than 100 guests attended the Puskin Mozi on 24th October for first public showing of Age of Delirium, a documentary film by David Satter which tells the story of the fall of the Soviet Union as lived and experienced by ordinary Soviet people. After the screening the film-maker discussed the film and his experiences as a Moscow news correspondent during the final days of the Soviet Union. The film which won the Van Gogh Grand Jury Prize at the was based on Satter’s book, Age of Delirium: the Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union. /img/1/l1.jpg
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Did the political joke die with the collapse of communism? According to the British sociologist Christie Davies, an international authority on the roots of humour of all kinds, that is precisely what happened. In a stimulating lecture at which was full of insights into some overlooked aspects of the transition from communism to capitalism jokes are simply not as at home in conditions of freedom and competing ideologies as in authoritarian societies. Professor Davies lecture’s was delivered at ELTE University, Budapest on 7th November. /img/1/l1.jpg 1 4 |
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